President Donald Trump mounted a dramatic intervention into the nation’s largest power market Friday, aiming to quell political headaches over rising electricity prices fueled by new data centers across a clutch of swing states.
The unprecedented move by the White House is an attempt to ensure one of the brightest spots in the economy — the surge in construction of data centers devoted to artificial intelligence — isn’t hamstrung by one of the biggest drags — the rising cost of energy. Market analysts, however, expressed skepticism the plan would result in lowering those costs anytime soon, given the time it will take to build new generation.
It comes as polling shows voters are increasingly angry about rising costs ahead of the midterms that could threaten the narrow GOP majority in Congress. Electricity prices jumped by double digits in most parts of the country in 2025, far outpacing inflation.
At a White House meeting, the administration and bipartisan group of governors from the 13-state power market that stretches from Midwest to Virginia called on the electric grid operator to hold an emergency auction for tech companies to buy power for the next 15 years. That effort is designed to motivate power companies in that market to build a fleet of new plants to serve the rapidly growing AI data centers.
